Austin 'Occi' Byrne's life begins when his mother brings him back to her village in Sligo after she fails to have an abortion in England. Occi suffers traumatic bullying at the hands of a local gang, but remains devoted to his increasingly alcoholic mother, convinced that his lost father will one day re-enter his life. When the mental asylum he's committed to as an adolescent closes down, he finds work on a trawler where he causes the death of a fellow sailor. The murder goes undiscovered, but worse awaits Occi when he returns home and learns the truth about his parentage.